


Adrift

by MamaSpaceDust



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Child Neglect, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Gen, Ghosts, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Klaus isn't having a good time, Overdose, Suicide Attempt, Which means Ben isn't having a good time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2019-11-05 12:49:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17919098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MamaSpaceDust/pseuds/MamaSpaceDust
Summary: When Ben comes back he doesn't expect to be babysitting his brother, but there was no way he was just going to leave him to his own devices.Or, Ben tries to keep Klaus alive and is prepared to be there for him when he fails.





	1. They were there when I woke up this morning

**Author's Note:**

> So this was just going to be a little thing, and then it hit 4000 words and wasn't anywhere near done so and I decided to split it into two parts whilst sobbing about where my life has gone. So have that Ben looking out for Klaus fic I mentioned at the end of my last UA fic, sorry it got so sad and it's definitely only going to get worse.
> 
> Also, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who read, commented or left Kudos on my last fic, it was really sweet of you all and I want to give you all hugs and tell you your wonderful.

All Ben saw was dark, an unnatural sort of nothing that sucked all the air from the room, leaving him gasping against a tightness in his chest . 

He spent eternities in that darkness, anchorless as he drifted through an endless void . When he felt a touch he could have sobbed in relief.  the lack of contact had been driving him mad, and as he held on to the lifeline he smiled for the first time in what felt like forever . 

Someone had found him. 

\------------------- 

Ben squinted, shielding his face instinctively against the onslaught of light. It was only a nearby muffled whimper that had him looking up, finally catching sight of where he was. 

Klaus's room.  Messier than he'd ever seen it before, but he'd spent enough time there with the other boy that he could never mistake it . And in the centre of the bed, quivering , was a lump beneath a pile of blankets.  If Ben strained he could hear quiet muttering from beneath the covers, stepping forward to try and understand what Klaus was saying . 

"Please go away, please. Leave me alone. I can't do this, I can't- I'm not-" 

"Klaus?" Ben's voice was weak, raspy and unsure as he reached out to touch his brother. He shivered as his hand passed through the other boy, a searing heat shooting up his arm before he snatched it away. 

"I thought I was better, I thought I was okay, please please please-" 

"Klaus! It's me, please." 

With a sudden pop the other voices began to register, a grinding, gnawing noise which seemed to originate from inside his own skull .  He winced but leaned closer, until his face pressed against the sheets and he could almost convince himself he could block out the voices . 

"Klaus, it's Ben. I need you to breathe, please, focus on my voice."  This was familiar, coaching his brother through one of his attacks as though nothing had changed .  Eventually the desperate gasps from the bed calmed enough for Ben to begin to relax, the voices fading to an annoying hum in the back of his mind . 

"Ben?"  Klaus still hadn't emerged from his cocoon, but Ben took it as a good sign that he was acknowledging him, leaning away a little to allow the boy more room . 

"Yeah, I'm still here." 

"If this is me finally going mad Diego's never going to let me live it down." 

"Well, as far as I know I'm not a hallucination." Ben shrugged, although no one could see. 

Klaus tugged the blankets from around his head, red-rimmed eyes squinting at him with suspicion . "That sounds like something a hallucination would say." 

"You're  just gonna have to trust me on this one, Spooky." 

The sound of his childhood nickname seemed to catch the breath in Klaus's throat as he stared  hopefully at Ben . "I  really hope you're real." 

Now that Ben could finally see the other boy he could  fully take him in.  His eyes were heavy with dark bags, his skin sallow and pale, and his hair hung in greasy curls around his face, longer than Ben had ever seen it . 

"How long was I gone?" 

Klaus jumped, caught off-guard by his question. He paused for a moment, gathering himself as he wrapped shaking arms around his chest. "Two months." A lackluster snicker slipped from his lips. "Dad put up a statue, you'd hate it." 

Ben hesitated, unsure if he should ask his next question but pushing forwards anyway. "So why can you only see me now?" 

Klaus sighed, slumping against the headboard as though a great weight was pressing down on him, "Well, ever since you..." 

"Died." Ben filled in, Klaus offering him a watery smile. 

"Yeah, ever since then, I haven't exactly been sober. I'd been keeping some old pain pills for an emergency and this seemed like as good a time as any."  Ben nodded, there were a lot of times the pills could have come from; when Diego broke him arm, when Klaus fell down the stairs, that one time Luther got shot during a bad mission . But still,  surely there weren't that many left over, not enough to keep Klaus high for two months straight. 

"And the rest?" 

"Ah, well,  apparently some people on the street aren't completely against selling to kids . I pawned some stuff dad wouldn't miss to buy some pills." 

"Klaus! Did you even know what they were? They could have had anything in them." 

"I know, I know, I've already heard the speech from Pogo when he confiscated my stash." Klaus had pulled the blankets up to cover his chin, he  suddenly looked very young. 

"So that's why you're sober now? Because Pogo took your pills?" Ben sighed, settling himself down on the end of Klaus's bed. 

"Yeah, I mean, after- after everything I didn't want to..." He trailed off, eyes drifting towards Ben  uncertainly . 

A spike of hurt lanced through his chest. "You didn't want to see me?" 

"No, no no no, Ben. I  just -" Klaus had pulled free of the blankets, now halfway down the bed towards where Ben sat. Ben twitched at how much weight his brother had lost since he last saw him. "I couldn't handle it, knowing you were gone. It hurt, Benny, it hurt so much."  Tears were leaking down Klaus's face and all Ben wanted to do was pull him into a hug, but instead he brushed a hand past the other boy's shoulder . 

Klaus shivered but leaned closer to the evidence that Ben was actually there, a sigh slipping from his lips . "I'm sorry I took so long." 

"It's okay,  just don't do it again." 

\------------------- 

Inevitably , Klaus did it again.  After three months of twitchiness,  constantly looking over his shoulder to check if one of the phantoms in his head had manifested behind him, he caved . 

Ben had already convinced him not to leave the house to buy more pills twice, but one night even his presence wasn't enough to keep the ghosts quiet .  Klaus had been a wreck for days, locking himself away from the others and  practically catatonic as he  was bombarded from all sides by screams . Ben had  just become one more voice in a chorus of horror, lost within the noise. 

So he could only watch as one night Klaus slipped out the window with a couple of small pieces no one would notice were missing, hurrying across town to a pawn shop which wouldn't ask questions .  The woman behind the counter gave him a knowing look but still passed over the cash, turning away from him as soon as the exchange was over . 

Klaus kept his head down as he staggered through the streets, avoiding the eye of anyone he passed.  Ben hovered over his shoulder, hands brushing over him in the hopes that the cold would remind him of his presence . 

They still found themselves back in Klaus's room, the boy wrapped in his blankets with a couple of pills cradled  reverently in his hand . The rest  was stashed in an old box in the back of his wardrobe. Ben shivered at the thought of months back in that black void when he saw the number of pills Klaus had managed to buy. 

Ben braced himself as he watched Klaus pop the pills into his mouth with a relieved grin before slumping  bonelessly against his headboard .  There was no way the pills could have kicked in already but Klaus already seemed more relaxed with the promise of quiet to come . 

As Ben stood watching Klaus he could feel the voices fading into the background, the overwhelming number decreasing as the minutes passed until only a ringing silence filled the room . Ben staggered forward, hand outstretched, until he could brush against Klaus's shoulder. 

"Klaus?" His voice sounded too loud in the quiet room, it seemed absurd that Klaus couldn't hear him.  The room was losing its colour, fading around the edges until everything was a sickening grayscale, Klaus standing out as the one bright spot in a field of darkness . 

Ben kept his hand on Klaus all night, watching as the other boy slept  peacefully for the first time in over a month.  He had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that Klaus wouldn't be able to see or hear him come morning, but he hoped that the cold touch the other boy had described to him would be enough to convince him he was still there . 

\------------------- 

It was as Ben had suspected, Klaus couldn't see him, couldn't hear him,  barely seemed to be able to feel him at all. Ben felt a guilty jolt of satisfaction when Klaus woke up the next morning and panicked at him being gone.  It had taken twenty minutes for him to calm down enough to feel the cold spot on his shoulder, Ben having followed behind him around the room as he paced through his worry . 

Klaus had spouted quiet apologies but had still reached for another pill before heading down to breakfast, Ben trailing  silently behind him .  It seemed to be a  fairly normal morning, Vanya already sat at the table with her nose in a book as Luther and Diego argued over her head, when Klaus stumbled into the room . 

"Good morning, Sweetie. How did you sleep?" Mom was in her usual place by the stove, dishing up a plate and holding it out to Klaus with a cheery smile. 

"Fantastic, thanks Mom."  Klaus grinned as he took the plate, pressing a light kiss to her cheek before taking his seat at the table and digging in . 

Luther and Diego paused their argument to watch him, eyebrows raised in twin looks of surprise . "You seem cheerful today, what did you do?" Luther's suspicious tone dragged a laugh out of Klaus 

"I didn't do anything, I  just got a good nights sleep for once." 

"Oh, well I'm glad you're feeling better, Klaus." 

"I'm not, it's been so quiet for the last few weeks. I was starting to enjoy it."  Diego grumped into his eggs until Luther reached over to punch his shoulder, starting another fight .  Klaus  just laughed and poured himself a glass of orange juice whilst Ben watched from the sidelines, wondering how long it would be before he could talk to his brother again . 

\------------------- 

By the third week Ben was getting sick of  being ignored .  He'd spent four hours the night before trying to materialise himself enough to interact with the world that he could hide Klaus's drugs from him . He'd had no luck and had  just come out even more frustrated than before. 

The others were training, which meant that Ben was watching them train because he had nothing else to do. 

As usual Luther had gone easy on Allison, the pair dancing around each other  nervously in a way that would have usually had Ben making disgusted faces at Klaus . After that the boy had gone against Diego, the pair  evenly matched if Diego had been able to use his knives. Instead he had  been forced to dodge around Luther, looking for a weak point so he could do any form of damage. 

To  literally no one's surprise, Luther won, leaving him to face off against Klaus, who had spent the previous two fight propped against a pillar with his eyes half closed .  Ben thought he might have actually managed to fall asleep standing up for a few minutes, not surprising considering he'd popped a couple more pills before training began . 

Ben could remember when they'd first started training, years ago. Klaus was never destined to be a heavy hitter like Luther, but he could hold his own in a fight. Pogo had once described him as wily and Ben hadn't disagreed. 

When he was at his peak Klaus could dodge with the best of them, slipping past an enemy to attack them from behind.  It was pretty much the only time Ben had heard Klaus be quiet when they were kids, sneaking around during exercises to get a drop on one of the others . 

The present day was a far cry from the Klaus he remembered.  He ducked and dodged, but his movements were sluggish and he found himself flat on his back over and over again, Luther peering down at him in concern as he struggled back to his feet .  Ben found himself sighing in relief when Sir Reginald called the fight with a huff, motioning Klaus to follow him back to his office as the others continued under Pogo's supervision . 

The usual lecture took place. Even in the short time Ben had been following Klaus around he had heard it several times before.  The worst part was that Sir Reginald definitely knew something was wrong with Klaus and refused to acknowledge it . It made Ben feel like screaming, something he'd been doing more often now that no one could hear him. 

Instead he followed Klaus up to his room where the boy went back to sleep, seeming completely disinterested with the dressing down he'd received from their father .  Ben settled beside him, hand in what had become its customary place on Klaus's shoulder, and hoped that today would be the day Klaus sobered up enough to see him . 

\------------------- 

Klaus had  been taken off of all missions until he cleaned up his act, left at home with only Vanya, Pogo or Mom for company.  He chose none of them, instead dosing himself with thrice what he would  normally take and settling in with his headphones, shutting out the world in an exhausted daze . 

Ben didn't realise something was wrong until he heard a quiet gasp, turning away from where he had been staring out the window to catch sight of Klaus, eyes squinting open as his breath stuttered in his chest before coming  slowly , too  slowly . 

Klaus seemed to consider  just lying there for a moment and Ben jumped forward, plunging his incorporeal hands through his brothers shoulders in the hopes that it would jump start some sort of action from the boy . 

It seemed to work. Klaus rolled off his bed, each movement seeming an almost Herculean feat as he staggered out of his room. He made slow progress down the hall, one arm pressed  constantly against the wall to keep him upright.  Ben fluttered around him, panic consuming him as Klaus's fingernails took on a faint bluish tinge, each breath a struggle . 

Ben jogged ahead, needing to know how long he would have to watch his brother struggle, and sighed in relief when he caught sight of Vanya meandering towards their rooms . Even knowing it wouldn't do anything he couldn't help but try to push at her back to hurry her along. "Come on Vanya, he needs you!" 

He sprinted past Vanya, the girl never looking up from her book, and back towards Klaus, gasping in relief when he was still upright against the wall, no longer moving but definitely still conscious . 

"Klaus, come on man, you need to stay awake." He rested his hands against the other boy's cheeks, hoping the cool touch would help keep him awake. "Make some noise, come on. Vanya's coming, you  just need to make her hear you, you're so good at that usually."  He knew he was rambling, but the silence was killing him, Klaus's clouded eyes staring straight through him as he slumped further down the wall . 

"No no no, come on Klaus. You choose now to keep your mouth shut you stubborn ass? Come on!" 

The last words come out as a shout and  suddenly Klaus's eyes shoot up to meet his, a hoarse "Ben?" passing through his lips. 

"Yeah, yeah man I'm here.  Just stay with me, Vanya's coming, okay?" 

"Hmm, 'kay. 'm so t'red though."  His eyes were staying shut for longer each time they slipped closed and Ben felt the sudden urge to slap the boy before him . He'd done this to himself, how could he have done this to himself? 

"Don't you dare, you Asshole! Stay awake." Ben could hear footsteps, followed by a sudden gasp and the sound of a book dropping to the floor. 

"Klaus?!" Vanya was there, she'd made it, and Ben stepped away.  His eyes remained locked on his idiot brother as Vanya called for help and Pogo rushed to take Klaus to the small room which doubled as an infirmary .  He watched as he  was injected with something which seemed to ease his breathing, colour returning to his skin as he stirred  uncomfortably . 

Pogo stayed at his side after ushering Vanya out with a promise to keep her updated, Mom fussing around him as he tried to sit up with a wince . 

"You should stay down, Master Klaus. You are not quite out of the woods yet I'm afraid."  Pogo pushed  gently at the boy's shoulder and Klaus went  willingly , rubbing at his chest with a shaking hand . 

"It hurts." He mumbled, face turned away from Pogo as though that would stop the lecture he was sure to receive. 

"It will do. You'll experience some nausea as well as tremors and aches for a few days." He frowned down at Klaus, mirroring the expression Ben was casting his way. "That was a very stupid thing you did." 

Klaus's eyes filled with tears, finally finding Ben's gaze as the shakes became worse. "I'm sorry." He mumbled, eyes locked on Ben in a way that left no doubt who he was talking to. Ben huffed, turning his head away to hide the waver in his lip. "I'm so sorry." 

The whimper in his voice was enough to crack Ben's resolve and he strode across the room to settle beside his idiot of a brother, hand phasing through Klaus's where it rested on the bed, his natural warmth more muted than usual . 

"It's okay, it's okay. Don't cry." Ben pressed his face close, until all he could see was his brother's weeping eyes. "Shhh, you'll be okay. I'm here. I'm here." 

\------------------- 

The sound of their siblings returning several hours later caught Ben's attention, finally dragging him away from Klaus's sleeping form .  He slipped out of the room with a sigh, making his way through familiar halls before he caught sight of them, gathered in an excited group as they rode the high of another successful mission . 

Pogo had pulled Sir Reginald to one side and seemed to be explaining what had happened, a stormy expression crossing the man's face before it settled back into his usual ambivalent mask . 

"I assume you've confiscated everything from him, as before?" 

"I haven't had a chance to yet, Sir. I did not wish to leave him alone before I was sure he was stable."  To Pogo's credit he seemed uncomfortable with their father's callous treatment of the subject, moving to speak again when he  was cut off, "I  shall be in my office . I trust you can inform the other children of what occurred?" 

Under their father's displeased look Pogo seemed to crumble, giving a little nod, "Of course, Sir." 

Sir Reginald sniffed, turning away to head towards his office, " Perhaps he will learn his lesson this time . He lets far too much of his power go to waste." 

In the wake of their father's exit the three remaining Hargreeves siblings turned to Pogo, curiosity and something approaching concern cutting their celebrations short . 

"Pogo? Did something happen?"  Luther, always the leader, stepped forward, eyebrows furrowed as he waited for an answer . 

"Ah, well, Master Klaus has had something of a trying day and has found himself in the infirmary."  The others burst with questions, each stepping closer to the chimp until they surrounded him . Pogo held up a hand for silence, "He is going to be okay, but he may be somewhat out of sorts for a few days." 

Allison's wavering voice filtered through the hall, "What happened to him?" The others nodded, watching Pogo  expectantly . 

Pogo motioned for them to follow him, Ben wandering along behind them  anxiously , "As you know, your brother has been a little out of sorts recently ." 

"You mean how he's been high as a kite ever since Ben died?" Diego cut in, earning himself a disapproving look from Pogo and an incorporeal swat from Ben. 

"I suppose that is one way of putting it, Master Diego. But I must ask that when you see him you treat him with some delicacy, I haven't been able to speak to him about it yet so we do not know whether this was a simple mistake or something... more." Pogo continued walking, but the others paused for a moment before rushing to catch up. 

"Wait, you think he might have tried to-?" 

"It does not seem to be outside of the realm of possibilities.  I knew he had been struggling since Master Ben's unfortunate demise, and his powers place a great strain on his psyche . I should have been keeping a closer eye on him." 

"No, Pogo, you can't think this is your fault.  We all knew-" Luther's words  were lost to Ben as he dashed away from the group, awful new explanations racing through his mind as he tripped past Vanya, who seemed to be waiting outside the infirmary door, and over to Klaus . 

His brother was still sleeping, hands drawn up close to his chest as though he could somehow protect his breathing through sheer force of will . 

"Oh Klaus." Ben sighed, settling down beside his bed before a sudden wave of anger overtook him. "You'd better not have been doing something stupid, I swear!  If you were going to  just -" He took a deep breath into his non-existent lungs, leaning forward to brush a hand through the other boy's hair . "Please don't do that again." 

"Wha'? Ben?" Klaus's eyes peeled open, squinting as the the light was hurting him. "What happened?" 

"You were a moron. Again."  Ben huffed, resting his hand on the bed beside Klaus's, the other boy shifting until he could feel his warmth against his skin . "The others are back, Pogo's bringing them in to see you." 

"Uhh, I don't wanna see them. They're gonna give me those disappointed looks..." Klaus whined, his voice scratchy in his throat. 

"It'll be fine. You need to talk to Vanya though, you owe her an apology for what you put her through."  Ben could still remember the panic in the poor girl's eyes when she caught sight of her brother collapsed against the wall . "And we need to talk about what happened. But first, I need to know. Were you trying to-?" 

Klaus frowned, processing everything Ben had said before staggering over a quiet, "No." 

"Okay, okay, we'll figure everything out.  Just try and keep it together for the others, yeah." 

"Since when have I ever had it together? You've got some unrealistic goals for me there, Benny."  Klaus still seemed rather listless but Ben could almost convince himself that he was smiling, so that was going to have to be enough for now . 

Noise from the hallway caught his attention, Klaus a beat behind him in glancing up. Pogo stood is the doorway, a look of concern on his aging face. "Master Klaus, I'm glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?" 

Klaus groaned, propping himself up a little against his pillows, "My chest hurts,  I feel like I could sleep for a week, and my hand won't stop shaking ." He held up his hand as an example, minute trembles running through his fingers. 

"Those are all to  be expected , I'm afraid. You should feel more like yourself again in a few days." Pogo's smile was tight as he glanced behind him. "I don't suppose you'd be up to a few visitors? They've promised to keep themselves calm." 

"Well, I am a bit bored." Klaus hummed for a moment before an exhausted smile leaked onto his face. "I suppose I can't keep them away, can I?" 

" I believe it would be difficult, yes."  Pogo offered him a wry smile before ushering the others into the room with another reminder to keep quiet .  Allison was clinging to Luther in what she  probably thought was a subtle manner, Vanya shuffling  silently into the room behind the others . 

"Damn Bro, you look like shit."  Diego was the first to speak, cutting through the silence with his usual brand of well-hidden concern . 

"Yeah, well at least there's a family resemblance now, huh?"  Klaus grinned  weakly up at his siblings, Diego restraining himself at the last moment from cuffing the back of his brother's head like he usually would . 

Instead he patted him on the shoulder, hand resting there for a moment, "I'm glad you're okay. Even if you are a mouthy shit." 

"Aww, Diego, you do care!" 

The group talked for a while, Klaus asking for details about their mission and listening  quietly in a way that seemed to be making the others uncomfortable .  Ben had to remind himself that the others hadn't seen him as he had been lately,  morosely silent as he stared out of the window in his room for hours on end . No one mentioned why they were in the infirmary. 

When Klaus seemed to be beginning to droop again, Luther ushered the others away, telling Klaus that someone would be down to check on him again soon .  Klaus  just smiled, knowing that the others would  probably get caught up in something else and forget, but appreciating the sentiment anyway . 

"Oh, Vanya, wait. Can I talk to you?"  Klaus was definitely starting to sound as exhausted as he looked now, but he still managed to reach out and grab his sister's sleeve . 

The girl glanced down at Klaus's limp arm before turning back around, offering Luther a reassuring smile as he left them alone . "What's up, Klaus?" 

"I just..." Klaus fumbled over his words and Ben pressed closer against his side in silent support. "I wanted to say thank you. If you hadn't found me, I don't know-" 

"It's okay." Vanya rushed out, interrupting Klaus's stream of thought when she clasped his hand in hers. " Just promise me it won't happen again? I never want to see you like that, I was so scared."  Her eyes had begun to tear up and Klaus seemed to instinctively reach out to comfort her, wrapping her in too-weak, too-skinny arms . 

"I promise, V. You'll never see me like that again." 

And he kept his promise, because less than two weeks later he left the Academy for good. 


	2. I'll be dead before the day is done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, a fool: I'll definitely be finished in two parts  
> Me, several days and 5000 words later, only 1 year into my more than ten year timeline: Well, shit.
> 
> So Adrift's going to be three parts, I really didn't intend it to be but it just keeps growing... Send help.
> 
> Also, enjoy!

Ben wasn't sure what Klaus had been expecting when he left the academy. The world was cruel, that much he had figured out on his own many years before. But the world was crueler when you were a seventeen year old with no where to sleep and no stable source of food.  
  
Still, Ben was impressed with Klaus. Despite the hardships which came with living on the streets he was mostly managing to keep his shit together. He'd sold the stuff he'd swiped from their father, definitely getting less than the items were worth but haggling his way to a fair price. He picked up odd jobs where he could, although the pay was generally shit. He made it stretch, visiting shelters when he could get in before they filled up, and refusing to indulge in anything that was nonessential.  
  
And he was staying away from drugs. Although, that was easier said than done when you spent your evenings roaming the streets trying to find a safe space to curl up for the night. The first few days Klaus had had to dodge dealers who tried to approach him. Ben eventually suggested that maybe he tone down his look a little so he didn't look so much like a perspective customer, so he'd setted for bulky jackets and jeans. He'd learned early on which streets to avoid and which would be safe, both physically and from his cravings.  
  
A nagging voice in the back of Ben's mind chimed in that it just meant he could find the dealers when he fell off the wagon, but he shushed that part of him. No matter what might happen in the future, no matter the reason, in this moment his brother was okay, he was coping.  
  
That didn't mean that it hurt any less to keep watch over Klaus' sleeping form, sitting across the alley from him so he didn't feel his unnatural chill. Even wrapped in an oversized hoodie Ben thought had probably been stolen from Luther, Klaus shivered against the biting cold.  
  
Klaus had told him that ever since his overdose he couldn't seem to get warm, not like he used to. Ben thought it might be psychosomatic, one of the ways his body was trying to get him back on the drugs, but he didn't mention it to Klaus. Neither of them needed him to go looking for a solution.  
  
Still, it wasn't too bad. Klaus made friends, and even with Ben's cautionary words he'd managed to gather a small group of people who kept an eye out for the weird skinny kid who'd turned up one day. Everyone seemed to think he was just another runaway and Klaus was in no hurry to correct them.  
  
Some of his new friends had been living on the streets for longer than Klaus had been alive and were more than happy to share their wisdom. An older woman named Ruth had pulled him aside and spent almost an hour listing where in the city was safe and where to avoid. She'd grinned with pride when Klaus recited her advice back to her, not knowing that Ben was helping him out whenever he forgot something.  
  
It was how things were for a while. Even the ghosts kept away for the most part, Klaus quickly figuring out that ghosts seemed to latch on to places or people. He made a point of avoiding anyone who seemed to be dragging a spirit around with them. Of course there were still bad moments, like the time he had settled down to sleep only to be awoken by terrified screaming and the image of a woman bleeding from her head as she dashed down the alley. Klaus had almost jumped to her aid before the whole scene looped, the woman dashing past once again.  
  
Klaus got good at avoiding things. Dealers and ghosts and anything within ten blocks of the academy.  
  
Still, their luck couldn't hold forever, as Ben was beginning to learn, and Klaus began to droop again within a couple of months.  
  
The money had all but dried up, Klaus now relying on shelters or the kindness of strangers on the street who might offer him a few dollars. With the lack of food came a gnawing hunger and an even more unsettling chill.  
  
Ghosts seemed more drawn to him, latching on now that he was weaker. When Ruth saw him later that week she tutted and told him that he looked like he was getting sick. Klaus had laughed bitterly.  
  
Klaus spent more time around the others now, hoping that they would serve as a distraction from the cravings which were causing his hands to shake near uncontrollably. When Sven, another of Klaus's new friends, had offered him a sip of whiskey to keep the chill away he had almost sobbed in relief.  
  
The exchange of looks between some of the older people gathered around made Ben suspect they knew why Klaus was really out on the streets, but when he was alone with Klaus later he didn't mention it.  
  
Maybe they'd be better at keeping him clean than Ben was.  
  
\-------------------  
  
"Well, at least we know now that alcohol doesn't block your powers." Ben muttered, following behind a staggering Klaus as they looked for a place to set up for the night.  
  
"I c'ld've told you that, Benny." Klaus tossed a grin over his shoulder, almost knocking himself off balance in the process. "But it does make everything more-"  
  
"Manageable?"  
  
"Quiet." Klaus nodded before turning back to his stumbling meander, a peaceful smile lifting his lips. "Everything's so much quieter."  
  
"Yeah, now we've just got to hope you don't drown in a puddle of your own vomit and we've got a viable solution." Ben huffed, picking up his pace until he was walking alongside his brother.  
  
"You worry too much, Bro." Klaus grinned, wiggling his eyebrows in Ben's direction. "Anyway, if I was going to die it would have happened already. I managed to get through being a teenaged superhero without dying, no offence-"  
  
Ben slapped a hand to his chest in mock horror, "Offence taken."  
  
"-Yeah, well, if I survived that shitshow then it'd be pretty pathetic if I got taken out by a pool of my own vomit, wouldn't it?"  
  
"It would be. Which really raises the question of why you keep trying to make it happen." Ben attempted to stare his brother down but Klaus twirled away down an alley with a giggle.  
  
"You're just jealous that I'm gonna live forever!" His singsong tone bounced off the high walls as Klaus flung himself down into a secluded corner. "Here should do, right?"  
  
Ben glanced around, never quite trusting Klaus' instincts when he was like this. "Sure, it looks good. And no ghosts."  
  
"Well-" Klaus grinned up at him, wrapping himself in a blanket he pulled from his overstuffed duffle, "-There is one ghost."  
  
Ben cocked an unimpressed eyebrow at him, ushering him down until he was in the most comfortable position he could be, sheltered by an overhang from the building beside him. "Uh huh, get some sleep, Klaus. You're gonna have a killer headache in the morning."  
  
"Nuh-uh, I never get hangovers. I'm immune!" His grinning face poking out from amongst the blankets suddenly reminded Ben of nights spent sneaking into each other's rooms so they wouldn't have to sleep alone, Klaus insisting that they share secrets even though they spent all their time together.  
  
"Sure you are. I'll remind you that you said that tomorrow and we'll see what you think then, yeah?" Klaus poked his tongue out at him, the childish image complete, before sinking into his blankets with a mumble.  
  
"G'night, Ben."  
  
"'Night, Klaus."  
  
Ben settled in for another long night of watching his brother's back, the sound of soft snores echoing from behind him as he stared into the darkness.  
  
\-------------------  
  
Ben had convinced himself that the drinking was okay, as long as Klaus didn't go farther he could keep the ghosts quiet and still keep mostly sober.  
  
He should have known better. Klaus had only been away from the academy for a few months when the alcohol started to lose its effectiveness. Before, he had been able to sneak a couple of sips and it was enough to keep them manageable out on the streets where the ghosts were few and far between. Now it seemed like he could down a full bottle of vodka and come out the other side with spirits still screaming in his ears.  
  
Maybe it was the time of year? Or Klaus's own mood? Ben had noticed more ghosts gathered to him when he was upset and with the prospect of his first Christmas away from home coming up he had to be feeling down. Perhaps they had never been a perfect family, but Mom and Pogo had made a point of making sure the kids all had a Christmas every year.  
  
So as the day drew closer and closer they had to accept that their plan wasn't working anymore. Add that to how out of it Klaus always seemed these days and Ben decided they needed to find a new solution.  
  
"Weed could work?" Ben piped up, peering up at his brother as he paced across the alley.  
  
"Maybe with the alcohol, but it won't be strong enough alone." It was a rare moment when Klaus was completely sober, clear-eyed for what Ben thought might be the first time in two weeks. "What about pain meds? Just a little to tide me over until we've got another solution?"  
  
"I don't know, what about last time?"  
  
"Fuck last time, I was a stupid kid. I'll- I'll be careful this time. No buying in bulk, only what I need." Klaus was shaking again, the December chill cutting through his jacket like it was nothing.  
  
"Klaus-"  
  
"You don't get it, Ben! They're always there, I can't even sleep anymore. I need to do something before I go insane." Klaus had slumped against the wall opposite Ben, elbows propped on his knees as he cradled his head in his hands.  
  
"Okay, okay, we'll try it. But you need to promise me that if you can't see me anymore you'll stop? It's not safe for you out here without someone watching your back." Ben sat forward, one leg extending until it rested beside Klaus's, just in his line of sight but not touching, he didn't want to risk the chill getting to his brother.  
  
Klaus glanced up, his furrowed brow making him look much older than eighteen. "I promise. And if I can't see you I'll go find one of the others, like Ruth? She'll look out for me until you're back."  
  
"Thanks, Klaus."  
  
"No problem, Benny."  
  
\-------------------

Klaus had little difficulty finding someone who could get him access to something stronger. It wasn't long before he was retreating back to the alleyway, a couple of Oxy tucked away safe in his pocket.

He was still feeling unsure about this whole situation as Klaus popped one of the pills into his mouth, swallowing it dry with a grin. "Hey, Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"Talk to me? I need to know if you- if you go." Klaus sounded tired so Ben resisted the urge to tell him that I'd he wanted proof he could open his eyes and see for himself. Instead he settled beside his brother, leaning his head back alongside his and watching the clouds roll across the sky.

"Do you remember when we tried to build a tree house?"

"You mean when Dad was out of town and Luther was being a stick in the mud and refusing to help?" Klaus chuckled, "Yeah, I remember."

"We were only, what? Eight? Nine? Before we started missions, before Five disappeared. It was so hot that summer and Mom kept saying we should play outside."

"Don't waste the sunshine, kids." Klaus chimed in, his voice pitched in a poor approximation of their Mom's usual sweet tone. Ben laughed anyway.

"Heh, yeah. And Vanya was practising her violin outside so we had a dramatic soundtrak to our failure."  
  
"And Five kept saying it was stupid but he helped us anyway."

"Said if he didn't we'd get ourselves killed. And to be fair, you would have dropped that plank of wood on Diego's head if he wasn't there to catch it."

"Yeah, well, maybe Diego deserved it." Klaus huffed next to him. Like this, with his eyes closed and the rest of the world blocked out, Ben could almost imagine how things could have been. If he'd never died and Klaus wasn't so fucked up. It was nice.

Klaus shifted, arms moving to wrap around himself unconsciously. "I miss them."

Ben cocked his head, turning a little so he could take in his brother, "Five and Diego?"

"The whole lot of them, really. Even Luther." Klaus was still staring up at the sky, watching with half-closed lids as birds twirled overhead.

"Wow, you must be feeling down if you're admitting to missing Luther."

"Hm, yeah." Klaus slid further down the wall until he was slouched low, arms wrapped around himself protectively. "I don't know what to do if this doesn't work?"

"We'll figure it out, we always do."

They sat in silence until Ben glanced over to take in the sight of his sleeping brother with a sigh.

"It'll be okay."

Ben wasn't sure if he was trying to convince Klaus or himself.

\-------------------

Christmas was rough, Klaus' mood dropping lower and lower until he reached a pit Ben couldn't seem to pull him out of. And he did what he always did when he was feeling down, he turned to drugs.

Ben didn't even think this had to do with the ghosts right now, Klaus needed to block out his own thoughts even more than he needed to stop any others getting in.

So Ben was angry, and scared, and horrified, when Klaus overdosed again. But he wasn't surprised.

The unwelcome struggling breaths started again, pale fingertips tinging blue as Klaus atempte to stagger upright. He hadn't been able to see Ben for over a week now but that didn't stop the ghost boy from fussing around him, silently urging him to find someone to help.

They were lucky, they were so damn lucky, that Klaus had kept his word to Ben. That when he'd stopped being able to see his brother he'd made his way to Ruth, the older woman watching him with sad, understanding eyes as he struggled to find a reason to set up closer to her.

Ruth found Klaus a few minutes later, collapsed against a wall, his chest still rising and falling as he clutched at it with a desperate hand.

"Klaus! Oh dear, what have you done to yourself, Sweetheart." The older woman crouched over him, hands bushing over him as she fussed around him for a moment before deciding there wasn't much she could do on her own. "You hang in there, I'm going to call for help." She dashed off, leaving Klaus alone for what felt like hours but was realistically less than three minutes.

Se was panting when she returned, as though she'd been sprinting. "Help's on its way, I need you to focus on me, Okay?" Ruth lifted Klaus' shaking hands into her own, taking purposeful breaths as she kept their eyes locked. "Just focus on my breathing and everything's going to be okay, yeah?"

Klaus nodded, tears leaking from bloodshot eyes as he watched the woman in front of him.

Ruth shook her head, one shaking hand reaching up to brush away his tears, "Hush, you're going to be alright. Now I need you to tell me what you took, Sweetie, so I can tell the paramedics."

Klaus opened his mouth, breath catching in his throat as he struggled for words. "O-oxy." His voice was hoarse and it sounded like it hurt to speak. Ben moved closer, resisting the urge to touch him.

"Good, that's good. And how much did you take?"

Klaus' eyes brimmed with fresh tears, overflowing down his face as he stuttered, "I- I don't-"

"Shh, you've got time, all the time in the world. Don't rush yourself." One of Ruth's hands was carding through Klaus' mess of curls and the boy sank into the sensation gratefully.

"I don't know. It was all," Klaus' words were cut off by a gasp before he started again, "It was at different times."

"Okay, that's still helpful, Klaus. We're gonna get you fixed up and then you'll be right as rain, alright." Klaus' nod was shaky, hand clutching at Ruth's as the sound of a siren approaching broke through the quiet. "There's your ride, do you want me to come with you?"

Klaus hesitated for a moment before nodding, his hold on her hand tightening as the ambulance came into view.

"Alright, I'm not going anywhere, kid."

Ruth kept her word, clinging to Klaus' hand even after he passed out. She rushed after him as he was wheeled into the hospital, already mostly stabilised by the paramedics, before being pointed towards a waiting area with a kind but unrelenting smile.

Ben drifted after his brother, panic giving way to the kind of dark blankness he hadn't felt since before Klaus brought him back. He slumped against the wall of the cubicle Klaus was taken to, watching as a couple of nurses did something around Klaus' bed before drawing the curtain and leaving them alone.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, without someone to talk to he was finding it difficult to keep track of time. People in scrubs occasionally passed by him, checking charts or displays before leaving him and Klaus alone again. Ben didn't fully comprehend what was going on until a familiar voice broke through the fuzz of his mind.

"Allison, come on, if he wanted to see us he knew where to find us, at least for a little while longer." Diego sounded quieter than usual, probably keeping his voice down for the sake of the other patients.

"You know as well as I do that Klaus has never had his own best interests in mind. He needs us, Diego." Allison's voice was accompanied by the click of heels. After Klaus left their father must have unbanned them. Ben felt a tiny jolt of anger on his brother's behalf but pushed it away, focusing on the sweet sound of his siblings' squabble.

Diego huffed. "And what if he tells us to fuck off?"

"And what if he doesn't? He needs help, Diego. Dad's sure as hell not going to do anything about it so it's up to us." The curtain was tugged aside, revealing two familiar faces. "Oh, God, he looks even worse than last time."

Diego frowned, rounding the bed until he stood at Klaus' side, "I hate to say I'm not surprised, but he has been living on the streets for a while now. I doubt he's had the easiest time of it."

Now that Ben was seeing Klaus against the blinding white of the hospital bed instead of blending in down a dark alleyway he had to agree with Diego. Klaus' clothes hung off him in an unhealthy way, his face drawn and pale beneath the beginnings of a dark, scraggly beard. He somehow looked simultaneously far too old and painfully young.

"What are we going to do, Dee? We can't let this keep happening." Allison had collapsed back into the chair beside where Ben sat, he craned his head around to get a good look at his sister as she rubbed at a painful spot on her neck.

"Well, Reginald and Luther seem to disagree. When I mentioned it to them they both touted out the same bullshit 'he's an adult and needs to take care of his own problems' excuse. Like that bastard isn't the reason he's this fucked up in the first place."

Diego's shoulders tensed as a noise outside caught his attention, palming a knife as he turned to face whoever was coming.

"Oh, gosh, I wasn't expecting any other visitors. Who might you two be?" Ruth smiled sweetly even as she clocked the knife Diego was attempting to sneakily tuck away, closing the curtain behind her as she stepped into the cramped area.

Diego had relaxed minutely but still stepped forward, putting himself between his unconscious brother and the stranger. "We're his brother and sister, who are you?"

Recognition bloomed across Ruth's face as she stepped forward, offering a hand to shake, "Well it's a pleasure to meet you both, I'm Ruth, I'm a friend of your brother. We look out for each other."

Allison stood, nudging past Diego to take Ruth's hand, "You must be the one who brought him in. Thank you so much." Diego mumbled his agreement from behind her, moving back to his place at Klaus' side.

"I was only doing what he would do for me, dear, he's a good kid. I'm only sorry that I didn't realise things had gotten so bad, so quickly." Ruth sighed, dropping Allison's hand with a sad smile before sinking gratefully into the empty chair. "He moved his things closer to me a few weeks back, I thought maybe he'd been feeling lonely out on his own but now I'm thinking there might have been another reason."

"So, he hasn't been using this whole time?" Diego was uncharacteristically quiet, almost nervous, as he spoke.

Ruth paused for a moment before shaking her head, "No, I don't believe so. When I first met him he was definitely sober, that must have been, oh about five months back. He was drinking for a while until it got out of hand. I thought he'd gotten it under control but he must have moved on to something harder instead."

Diego turned on his heel to face Allison, "Why the hell did he stay out there if he wasn't using? Why didn't come back to the house?"

"I don't know, but you saw how he was-" Allison shot a cautious look in Ruth's direction, "-after Ben. It hit him hard. I think being in the house was hurting him more than being out on the streets ever could."

"But he could have come to one of us? Vanya? Christ, even Pogo would have tried to find some way to help him out." Diego's voice cracked as he stared down at their brother, one hand drifting to almost touch him. "Stubborn asshole. I don't understand."

"It might not be my place to say," Ruth interrupted, the other two jumping as though they had forgotten she was there, "but I think you may be trying to place too much logic onto this. Sometimes, we have to accept that the things which drive someone away from those they love aren't physical. Sometimes they don't even make sense to anyone but the individual. You've just got to do your best to support them when you can."

Allison sniffled, nodding, "That's probably true, Klaus has always kind of pulled away from us. He hated showing anyone his weaknesses."

"He still could've come to us."

"I don't know, Dee." Allison sighed, rubbing at her eyes and leaving smudges of eyeliner. "Maybe we should go?"

"I don't know about that." Ruth chimed in, "I think he would like to see you, now that it's out of his hands. He doesn't talk about himself much, but whenever he mentions his siblings he seems, I don't know? Lonely?" She struck them with her sad smile, the one she had used multiple times to get Klaus to take some of her extra food instead of going hungry. Klaus called it her Grandma face and regularly got a swipe o the back of the head for his sass.

"Really? It doesn't sound like Klaus not to talk about himself. I always assumed it was his favourite topic." Diego huffed when Allison smacked him, but the mood in the room had lifted a little, the group settling in to wait for Klaus to wake up.

It was almost an hour before Klaus began to stir, hands twitching in agitation as what was probably a killer headache pounded through him. "Ugh, if someone finally got sick of me and ran me over with a truck I refuse to live life as a pancake person. Just take me off life support now."

His voice was raspy but it was up there as one of the most beautiful sounds Ben had ever heard. The others rushed to his bedside but Ben remained seated; he'd have all the time he needed to make sure Klaus was okay, for now he'd just bask in the proof that he was conscious again.

"You're awake! Thank God!" Allison was clutching at one of his hands, leaning closer to her brother unconsciously with a wide grin.

"Allison? What are you doing here." Klaus struggled to sit up, Diego shifting to prop him up with a pillow. "And Diego too, hi."

"The hospital called the house, we wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, bro, two overdoses in a year isn't good. You need to be careful." Ben winced at Diego's words, expecting Klaus to get defensive, but Klaus seemed to let it go, too happy to be seeing his siblings again.

"I know, I know, does it help if I say it was an accident?" Klaus' free hand was twitching where it rested on his thigh, Ben watched the minute movements instead of focusing on the others hovering around his brother.

"Not much, but yes." Ben caught Allison's smile at the edge of his vision. "I'm glad you're alright, but Diego's right. You can't do this again. It's only going to get worse."

Klaus sighed, sinking into his pillows as he tried to change the subject. "So Dad's a no-show, that's no surprise. But what about Luther and Vanya? They're okay, right? Not in any world-ending danger?"

"They're fine. Luther's out of town with Father, and Vanya thought it might be better not to come. You know, after last time."

Klaus drooped. "Yeah, yeah I get it." He grinned up at the pair, and Ruth hovering behind them, "But you're here. How are you guys?"

"Listen, Klaus, I know you don't want to but we really need to talk about this." Diego put on his serious voice, settling a heavy look on Klaus that set the smaller man squirming.

"Look, I'm fine, okay. It was a slip up, nothing more."

"Klaus! You're in the damn hospital. I think we should talk about your options here. The nurse gave me some pamphlets for a couple local rehab clinics, or we could-"

"Nope, no no no, not going to work."

Allison stared at him, eyes wide in surprise, "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean, rehab's not for me, it won't stick. My problems are way beyond a simple addiction."

"Well that's bullshit."

"Diego!"

"What? It's true." Diego turned his stern look back on Klaus. "Look, maybe that's what this started as, maybe it was a coping mechanism, but can you honestly say that if you went out there tonight you wouldn't be back on that shit before morning?"

"I-" Klaus stumbled over his words, taken aback by his brother's straightforwardness. "I- yeah, I can."

"Cool, now why are you fucking lying to yourself, bro? Because you're dependant on this shit and it's going to get you fucking killed." Diego stepped away, face screwed up in angry concern.

"Hey, listen," Allison set one of her hands on Klaus' slender shoulder, squeezing gently, "we just want you to be okay. I can pretty much guarantee you're a lot more interesting alive than dead, and we'd like to keep you that way."

"I know, it's just-" Klaus let out a groan of irritation. "-You don't get it. No one gets it..."

"Then we'll find someone who does. An expert or something. You just need to agree to the rehab, okay?" Allison was staring at Klaus with her big eyes and Ben wasn't sure how he had held out this long, he would have crumbled ages ago.

"Yeah, yeah fine. I'll give it a try. What's the worst that can happen, right?"

"Right." Allison grinned down at him. "I'm proud of you."

"Whoa, don't go throwing your pride around already, I haven't done anything yet." But Klaus grinned back at her, laughing when she pulled him into a gentle hug. "Come on tough guy, bring it in." He opened his arm toward Diego, the other man chuckling softly before stepping closer to wrap an arm around the pair.

"You tell anyone about this and I break your knees, yeah?"

"Well, someone didn't have their Wheaties this morning, feeling cranky Dee-dee?" The switch in Klaus which allowed serious conversations seemed to have flicked back to off as he joked with the others, drawing Ruth expertly into the conversation as though she'd always belonged there. They chatted for a while, Klaus mostly listening to his siblings in a happy daze rather than contributing.

"Hey, I'm going to go talk to the doctor, I'll be right back." Allison excused herself, following Ruth out as she headed for the bathroom and leaving the boys alone.

"Uh, look." Diego spoke up, eyes locked on the sheets beneath Klaus' hand.

"Hmm? What's up?"

"I just- so I'm moving into my own place in a couple weeks. I should be settled in by the time you're out of rehab. If you need anything, even just a place to crash, here," Diego pulled a folded piece of paper from his back pocket, "this is the address, you just need to ask, okay."

Klaus took the paper, smiling gently down at it before he tucked it away. "Thanks, that means a lot, Diego."

"And I think everyone would appreciate it if you let us know you weren't dead in a ditch somewhere every now and then, yeah?" Diego hummed, turning away from Klaus to hide the soft expression that was now incidentally on full display to Ben. "You had Mom worried sick."

"Okay. Tell Mom I'm sorry?"

"Sure, just don't disappear again."

Ben listened, observing and desperately hoping that somehow the rehab would work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm curious if anyone caught my Misfits reference (Well, a little more than a reference, I think), it might be a tricky one if you haven't watched it recently so I won't blame you if you don't! 
> 
> This was way harder to write than it should have been, and I feel super out of practice writing dialogue which isn't really dramatic, so hopefully it came out okay? 
> 
> Also, fun fact, I deleted over twenty "just"s from that last scene because I'm a very hesitant writer before I edit. It hurts me every time I find one that's snuck its way in where it's not welcome.
> 
> Let me know what you think! Next (Last, hopefully) part will be out sometime next week.


	3. Can I be undone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, you remember when I said this was definitely going to be three chapters? You know, like a liar? 
> 
> So you guys might be reading this chapter thinking, "Oh hey, this seems real good, everything's going great" and you'd be right, until you're not, so enjoy that, my dudes.

 

Ben watched over Klaus all night, his brother having slipped into sleep almost as soon as the others left. He still felt numb, staring down at the boy who had almost joined him yesterday, his arms hanging limp at his sides.  He'd thought that if he could get Klaus away from the house they could find a way to manage his powers, but things only seemed to have gotten worse .

At least at the house Klaus was almost guaranteed to  be found before anything terrible happened . Out on the streets a random passerby would be almost as likely to rob him as call for help.

Ben sighed, reaching out to rest a hand near Klaus' to feel the reassuring warmth. "Dammit, we need to find another solution."

\-------------------

Ruth was back at the hospital the next morning, bearing get-well-soon messages from some of the others as well as the welcome news that Allison had taken care of his hospital bills the night before .

"She also called ahead to a couple of rehab centres, they've got space for you if you get there today. You  just need to choose which one."

Klaus had grumbled at having to make a decision but relented under Ruth's stare, rifling through the small selection of pamphlets .

" Maybe this one?"  Klaus hadn't spent much time reading, seeming to immediately disregard anything he would need to ask the others to pay for for him . The one he picked, of the two that remained, seemed to have  been chosen at random.

Still, Ruth nodded  approvingly .  "I had a friend who went there a couple years back, I've only seen him a couple of times since but it seemed like he cleaned up his act ."

"Well, you don't need to worry about that, I'd never leave my favourite lady behind." A cheeky grin lit up Klaus' face before he ducked away from her playful swipe with a laugh.

"Behave, you're already on thin ice after yesterday."

Klaus ducked his head, a sudden sombreness descending over him, "I-I'm sorry. It  really was an accident."

Ruth sighed, settling on the edge of the bed as she cupped Klaus' face in one of her thin hands. "I know, but you gave me a hell of a scare, kid." She brushed a gentle thumb across his cheek, catching a tear that had managed to escape.

"It  just \- got out of hand."  Klaus was quiet, Ben stepping forward until he perched beside Ruth in an attempt to hear him, one hand resting against Klaus' leg to let him know he was there .

"Well, that's why we're doing this." Ruth prodded at the pile of abandoned pamphlets that Klaus had dropped in his lap. "You're going to get clean and then we'll go from there, yeah?"

Klaus' smile was watery when he looked up, but he flashed it in Ben's direction before turning  fully to Ruth, "Yeah."

\-------------------

Rehab was rougher for Klaus than he was willing to admit; the regimented schedule reminded them both of the academy, he got sent wary looks for his age, and to top things off the ghosts which inhabited the building were particularly needy .

Despite  all of that, it seemed to be helping.

Klaus had never had someone other than Ben helping to keep him sober.  The woman who ran the centre, Stephanie ("Call me Steph" she'd said when he first arrived) was sweet enough not to set Klaus' dislike of authority figures off whilst still remaining strict enough to keep him in line .  She always made a point of checking on him in the mornings, knowing that the nights could be particularly rough for her youngest resident .

She also, at some point, had  been informed about his powers. She didn't seem to understand the full scope (although, who did?) but it seemed like at some point Allison had called to fill her in.  She would pull Klaus aside every now and then to make sure things weren't too bad inside his head, quiet whispers in a corner where no one could overhear .

Despite her knowing about his powers, Klaus didn't trust her completely, preferring to confide in an otherwise silent Ben whenever they managed to find a moment alone .  They would lie close together at night, memories of childhood rushing back, as Klaus whispered everything he needed to get out to his brother .

Ben felt a little grateful for the ghosts which haunted the centre, something he in turn felt guilty for when their drawn faces would keep Klaus awake for nights on end .  But every time Klaus  was confronted with the inevitable end of a life of drugs he seemed to understand a little more that this wasn't sustainable, that he'd been lucky so far but it wouldn't hold .

The others helped; once they had gotten over Klaus' age they would listen  patiently as he talked  broadly about his family, about being 'adopted' by Sir Reginald and everything that came after .  He never mentioned his powers but he didn't need to, there weren't many crime fighting families of children around to pick from, they all knew who he was without him having to tell them .

He tried his best to keep his siblings out of it, after all, most of his problems stemmed from his father. Any issues he had with the others were usually caused by the old man's horrid control.  He did mention how Allison and Diego had come to see him in the hospital, how Diego had offered his help and Allison had given him a warm hug before she left . He mentioned feeling closer to his family than he had in years.

That night he had whispered to Ben that he felt bad for leaving him out, since he was the one who helped him the most. Ben had smiled and nudged him with a cold hand, the  ghostly touch earning him a hesitant smile back.

\-------------------

When Klaus left the centre it was with a shiny new thirty day chip and a promise to return for meetings once a week.  He'd tried to argue that he wouldn't need them, but a couple of the older guys had pulled him aside and  gently explained how much having people who understood to talk to would help .

Ben whistled at his side,  occasionally casting proud glances over at his brother.  Klaus looked better than he had since before leaving the academy, his skin flushed  healthily with the light chill and the edges which had become  dangerously sharp during his time on the streets had begun to round out again .

"So, are you going to go to Diego's?"

Klaus glanced up, chewing on his lip for a moment before shaking his head, "Nah, not yet. I've got an idea of how to make some money, but first we need to go see Ruth."

Ruth greeted Klaus with a grin, pulling his face down to hers so she could plant a proud kiss on his forehead. "I knew you could do it, kid. Now you've  just got to keep it up."

"Well, I was kind of hoping you could help me with that. I- uh- do you mind if I set up here with you? It might be easier to keep myself clean if I know you're here too." Klaus had dropped his head somewhere in his rushed speech, Ruth leaned down so she could meet his eye.

"You know you're more than welcome around here, kid. But I thought your brother offered you his couch? You not taking him up on it?"

"Yeah, I thought about it."  Klaus sighed, dropping down against the wall, Ruth following him at a slower pace, old joints creaking . "I  just , I need to know that I can do this on my own, you know? And I have an idea, a way to make money." He paused, catching Ruth's raised eyebrow which mirrored Ben's own. "A legal way to make money. Uh,  probably ." He winced.

Ruth chuckled, slinging a friendly arm around Klaus' shoulders and giving him a squeeze. "Alright kid, tell me about this probably legal idea of yours."

\-------------------

Klaus' idea went like this.

He was going to finally use his powers for something good. And earn enough to cover the rent on a tiny apartment at the same time.

He figured, and Ben couldn't disagree, that he should put the fame forced on them by their father to good use and establish himself as a medium .  It was  reasonably well known that there was someone who could talk to ghosts within the academy, although their individual powers were never disclosed to the public .  He could use that knowledge, as well as the fact that he could in fact see ghosts, to set up a business communicating between the living and the dead .

Ben was a little unsure; Klaus was only  just out of rehab and pinning his entire livelihood on his continued sobriety seemed like a lot of pressure .  Klaus disagreed, convincing him that it was yet another reason for him not to slip, as though if he had enough reasons he'd be immune to the cravings .

Either way, it wasn't long before Klaus had himself set up.  A couple of small ads in the paper and a cheap prepaid cellphone paid for with the money he'd found stashed in his bag after leaving the hospital (God bless awkward siblings, because there was no way Klaus would have accepted it if they'd  just handed it over) and he was all set .

Jobs were few and far between to begin with, and Klaus scrambled for a way to keep his phone charged in case someone called until he made his way to the local library a few days later and figured out that if he got himself a library card no one would ask any questions .  So he would spend a few hours every afternoon combing through whatever book caught his interest whilst he recharged his phone .

The jobs he did get were- interesting was a word Ben would use for them.

So far, things hadn't gone completely tits up, but they weren't what Klaus had been expecting.  Apparently , piggybacking on the academy' shame had brought out more than a couple of fans, and not the 'wave  politely when they saw you on the street' type of fans .  No, these were the type of fans that used to stand outside their house when they were younger hoping to catch a glimpse of one of them .  These were the type who would grab them as they passed them by, demanding an autograph before they would let them go .

Klaus said it was okay, that he'd expected this, but every time a client would bring up the academy, digging for information, Klaus would sink into himself a little . Ben didn't like it, but at least they paid, and they paid well.  He was kind of convinced that Klaus jacked up the price every time someone mentioned the academy, but he wasn't going to call his brother on it .

That was how they found themselves, almost two months later, browsing through the rental listings in the newspaper, Ben perched on a low wall beside Klaus as he peered over his shoulder .

"What about this one?" Ben pointed at a listing, "It's in the right price range."

"Nah, I need a bedroom. No studios."  Klaus mumbled around the half-chewed pen between his lips, the corner of his mouth already stained with ink .

"Alright, what about that one?" Ben jabbed at the paper again, finger slipping through a little in a way neither of them commented on.

"Hmm, well, it's  barely bigger than a shoebox, and it's in pretty much the worst possible part of town." He turned a blinding grin on Ben, popping the pen out of his mouth to circle the listing. "But it's in our price range and it's not  literally living on the street, so we'll give it a try."

\-------------------

Klaus had been right, the apartment was a shithole.  A crammed together living room/kitchen, one bathroom with a standing shower, and what he thought might have actually been the world's smallest bedroom .  But it was Klaus' and Ben didn't think he'd ever forget the way his brother's face lit up when he  was handed the key by his surly new landlady .

Apart from kitchen appliances the place  was unfurnished , and when he'd asked Mrs Wright about decorating she'd told him that she didn't give a shit as long as he didn't break anything .  Klaus took that as a go ahead, spending a busy day repainting the stained, bland walls with a warm and  incredibly cheap yellow he'd found on sale .

He'd returned to Ruth that night, grin  firmly in place.  When she'd told him that he should be staying at his new apartment, Klaus had laughed it off with an excuse that if he'd stayed in there any longer with all that drying paint he'd have passed out .

The next day found Klaus waiting  anxiously on Diego's doorstep, Ben hovering over his shoulder as they waited for someone to answer .  Diego hadn't been kidding about his place being the most basic of the basic, from the outside it  barely seemed bigger than Klaus', although it was in a much nicer neighbourhood .

Diego  eventually answered, hair ruffled as though he had recently rolled out of bed.

"Told you you should have waited a few more hours."  Ben muttered, earning himself a quick glare over Klaus' shoulder before he turned back to their brother .

"Klaus? What are you doing here so early?" Diego stepped back, waving him in as he yawned into his elbow, rubbing at his eyes.

"Sorry, I  just -"

"You need a place to stay?"  Ben smiled at the lack of judgement in Diego's voice,  apparently he was still willing to keep his word from the hospital . "You know my couch is free for you if you need it."

"No, actually-" Klaus flushed. "Um, I was hoping you could help me, uh, move into my apartment."  The end of his sentence came out rushed, Diego staring  blankly at him for a moment before his words seemed to register .

"Huh? Apartment?"

"Well, I mean, it's not much. It's actually kind of shitty- but I uh-"

"No, Klaus, Bro, this is great, congratulations."  Diego flashed one of his rare grins before ushering Klaus into the kitchen ahead of him, starting a pot of coffee before leaning against the counter . "But uh, don't take this the wrong way but how are you affording that?"

Klaus perched on the kitchen table, one eyebrow quirking  cheekily , "You'd  be surprised how much money you save when you're not taking drugs . And I've kind of set up a business."

"This business doesn't involve the buying and selling of illegal substances, does it? Because you know I'm joining the police academy, I'd hate to have to arrest you for being a dumbass."

"Nah, I  just figured that there had to be a way to earn money with my power, so now I talk to dead people for a living and it's  surprisingly lucrative ."

"Huh, whatever. If it's working for you then go for it."  Diego seemed a little uncomfortable, turning away to fix himself a cup of coffee before offering one to Klaus .

"Nah, don't like the way it makes me feel."

A short bark of laughter escaped from Diego before he managed to catch himself. " Seriously , after all the crap you've pumped into your body you're telling me you draw the line at coffee?"

Klaus pondered his brother for a moment before shrugging  dismissively , "I don't know what to tell ya, I only ever took downers and coffee's a stimulant . I've got more than enough energy  just from being clean, thanks. Any more and I'd be bouncing off the walls."

"Well,  maybe it would help you with moving?" Diego chuckled before setting the coffee pot back down and taking a sip from his mug. "What do you need to move anyway? I didn't figure you'd been collecting furniture on the street."

"I found a place downtown that was getting rid of some stuff for cheap, but they'll only deliver it as far as my building.  I didn't rate my chances of getting it up to my apartment on my own as very high so I figured I'd ask my second favourite brother to help ."

Diego huffed, "Well, why don't you go and ask your favourite brother then?"

"Well I would, but ghosts generally aren't great at carrying furniture." Klaus kicked his legs, feet brushing against the floor as he glanced over at Ben with a grin.

Recognition flooded over Diego's face and he flushed, embarrassed, "Oh, Ben, sorry, I thought-"

"You thought I'd pick Luther over you?" Klaus laughed, the sound echoing  happily around Diego's small apartment. "Nah, I've found we don't have much in common, what with his love of, I don't know? The gym, and rules? And my whole, being me thing. Not super compatible."

"Heh, yeah, I guess you're right." Diego scoffed. "You know,  I think you had the right idea, leaving like you did. Luther spent the whole month before I left trying to convince me that I should stay  for the good of the team ."  He dropped his voice in a bad impression of their brother, pulling a chuckle he couldn't hear from Ben and a fond smile from Klaus . "Like there's even a team anymore, it was  just him, me and Allison left in the house, and she'll be gone soon too."

That caught Klaus' attention, his head raising  slightly in interest. "Allison's leaving?"

Diego waved his hand  dismissively , "Yeah, she's got some big acting thing in LA, she's moving next month."

"Wow, LA, good for her." Klaus smiled, tilting back with his hands planted on the table. "It's weird, thinking she'll be so far away."

"It's what she wants, I'm glad she's going for it." Diego grunted, rinsing his empty mug in the sink before turning back to Klaus. "Alright, let's get you moved in."

\-------------------

Ben had to admit, with a fresh coat of paint and the almost-new furniture the apartment didn't look like the worst place to live in the city .

Diego had raised an eyebrow at the location, asking whether it was the best idea for Klaus to be so close to so many dealers .  Klaus had shrugged him off, pointing out that all his friends lived near here and he wasn't going to start ignoring them because he wasn't living on the street anymore . It was also close to the rehab centre, cutting down on the chances that Klaus would be too lazy to go to his meetings.

It had seemed enough to Diego, who had wrung a promise to keep in touch from their brother before he left, a promise that Ben intended to nag Klaus into keeping .

Now Klaus was making his way through familiar streets, soft footsteps echoing down alleyways as he headed for Ruth's spot .

"She's going to be so excited, Ben. I can't wait to see her face."  Klaus was grinning, wrapped in a long coat as he backtracked towards the place he'd spent the previous night .

"Mmhm, I'm sure she's very proud of you." Ben smiled  softly over at his brother, he'd been working so hard, he deserved this little bit of happiness.  His smile turned sly, slanting towards Klaus  conspiratorially , "I'm not sure how Mom would feel about  being replaced though ."

Klaus spluttered, pulling up to a stop to swing around and stare at Ben, "Um, what? Ruth isn't my Mom! That's ridiculous."

"You're right."

"Thank you."

"She's more like a cool Grandma."

"Alright, first of all, I'm insulted on her behalf that you think she's old enough to be a grandma-"

"Klaus, she's sixty-eight."

"She's young at heart!" Klaus flailed at him.  "And second, she is definitely not any kind of family replacement nonsense that you're trying to pull here, she's better than that bullshit-"

"Klaus? You talking to your ghosts again?" Ruth's rough voice called from down the alley, face poking around a corner  curiously .

"What? No, I mean yes, I mean-" Klaus turned back to Ben, poking a finger in his direction as he hissed at him, "We're not done here."

"Sure, sure, whatever." Ben brushed him off, grinning as his brother ran over to the woman with a wide smile.

"Ruth! Come on, I want to show you something. Bring your things."  Klaus was  hastily packing Ruth's stuff away as she watched, eyes soft as they followed the boy's actions .

"Well, it seems like I don't have much of a choice." She chuckled as Klaus stood before her, her bag slung  comfortably over his back. "Where are we going, kid?"

"It's a surprise, follow me."

Ben spent the trip back to the apartment listening to Klaus repeat everything Diego had told him about Allison's move to LA, Ruth nodding along kindly as he flung his arms wide with excitement .  Ben laughed as he watched the two interact, Ruth's gentle touch something Klaus had  obviously been missing from their childhood .

Klaus' grin widened when he opened the door that led up to the apartment, ushering Ruth ahead of him up the stairs before following with a spring in his step . 

Ruth turned to watch him as he approached the door, digging through his pockets for his key. "Kid, what is this? Where are we?" 

"This," Klaus smiled back at her as he swung the apartment door wide and motioned for her to step in. "This is our new apartment."

Ruth smirked as she stepped through the door, nudging at Klaus as she passed him, "You talking about your ghosts again, Kiddo ? There's  just you here, what with all this 'our' business?"

"No ghosts, or well," He glanced over to Ben with an apologetic wince, "they're not who I was talking about. What I meant is, uh, this is for you too. If you, you know, if you want?" Klaus dropped his eyes, hands wringing together as he refused to look at Ruth.

"Kid, I can't-" Ruth cut herself off, a softness touching her eyes as she stepped up to Klaus with a small smile. "You worked so hard, I can't  just take that."

"It's- it's a gift. For uh, for helping me." 

Ruth sighed, ruffling a hand through Klaus' hair before tilting his head back up to meet her eyes. "I didn't help you because I wanted something back, I did it because I care about you, Kid."

Klaus pouted, looking away for a moment to catch Ben's eye. Ben shot him an encouraging thumbs up and a grin. "Well, I care about you too, and I can help now, so yeah..." He trailed off, determination turning to uncertainty. "You don't, you don't have to. I  just \- I want to do something. And I- I don't know how to do this without you supporting me." 

Ruth smiled, cupping his cheek  gently as she considered her options. "Okay, I'll stay."

" Really ?!"  Klaus grinned as Ben cheered  silently in the corner, watching as his brother caught Ruth's hands and began to drag her towards the back of the apartment . "Come on, I'll show you your room, it's pretty tiny but Diego helped me paint it so it doesn't look as shitty as it did before-"

\-------------------

They fell into an easy routine, Klaus continuing his medium jobs as well as picking up occasional shifts at a bar down the street whilst Ruth would spend her days visiting friends around the city before returning back to the apartment in the evening .  Klaus didn't talk to Ben as often as he used to, Ruth was always around so it felt rude to exclude her, but they would make faces to make each other laugh .  Ben started providing colour commentary about the various people they met throughout the day as Klaus fought to keep a straight face . 

Their first argument (if you could call it that) as roommates had come almost immediately, when Ruth realised that Klaus was giving her the only bed in the apartment .  Klaus had pointed out that he'd slept in much worse places than on a clean couch, an argument Ruth couldn't disagree with after that one time she found him in a dumpster, snoozing  happily .  She had given in only after making him promise to tell her if it started to hurt his back too much, but she would still chuckle when she found him sprawled across the too-small couch, limbs splayed everywhere . 

Ben wasn't fond of Klaus' new part-time gig, an opinion Ruth  unknowingly echoed, but very few places were willing to hire a retired teenage superhero recovering from a drug addiction with no prior experience, so there wasn't much they could do to stop him .  After a few months, between his two jobs, Klaus had managed to save himself a tidy little nest egg which he kept in cash, rolled up amongst his things . 

It wasn't glamorous, and it wasn't easy, but it was a hell of a lot better than before.  Ben sometimes caught Klaus staring in wonder around the apartment, as though he still couldn't believe he was there . 

Everything was going  reasonably well, by which Ben meant that Klaus had pretty much stopped getting weird fans calling on the ghost hotline and had seemed to have gained enough of a reputation that people had stopped questioning his powers at every turn . So  really , they should have been expecting things to fall apart. 

Klaus had been out on a job, one that his client had insisted could only  be completed at night.  It wasn't uncommon, the number of people who believed for some reason that ghosts only existed when it was dark out was  frankly staggering, but it still earned a roll of the eyes from both Ben and Klaus whenever it happened .  But anyway, Klaus had done his job, connecting the man who hired him to his deceased mother and passing on her final messages and such before hopping on a late bus home . 

The bus was  practically empty, the driver and one sleeping old man in the back the only ones around.  Klaus had taken the moment of solitude to catch up with Ben, the two of them giggling to each other about the last few days . 

"Did you see that guys face when I told him his mom was pretty much  just worried about her apple trees?" Klaus chuckled, settling back into the uncomfortable seat beside Ben with a groan. "I thought he was going to try and throw something at her."

"I reckon it would've been good for him, guy seemed way too uptight." Ben smirked back at his brother, catching himself as he watched Klaus' eyes go wide with panic. "Hey, you okay? What's-?"

"Hey, Kiddo." The voice was weak, as though spoken underwater, but it was  instantly recognisable.  Ben whipped around, the sight of Ruth sat opposite them  momentarily throwing him so much that all he could do was stare . 

"Wha- what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at home?" Klaus' voice shook as he stared at Ruth, hands held tight in his lap in an attempt to stop himself from reaching out. They all knew that he couldn't touch her, but Ben suspected the proof would be too painful for him to handle right now. 

"We all know why I'm here, kid." Almost like she had called them, injuries started fading onto her skin.  Dark bruises Ben suspected never had time to develop whilst she was still alive spread across her face and down her arms, blood spilled from her lips . She remained calm, even as the evidence of her death made itself known. 

"What happened?" Ben murmured, Klaus' shocked silence stark beside him. 

"Well," Ruth began, turning to look at him with a soft smile over bloodstained lips, Ben shivered when he felt eyes other than Klaus' on him for the first time in years, "I was at the top of the stairs, about the head to the store, and then I wasn't anymore, and now I'm here ." She spread her arms, encompassing the bus. 

"You fell down the stairs?" Klaus' voice  was choked , too small, too quiet. Ben wanted to hold on to his brother, stop the shakes he could feel through their seats.

"It's pretty embarrassing." Ruth chuckled, the warm sound at odds with her gruesome appearance.  "You live on the streets for twenty five years without a single stabbing and then you get taken out by a flight of stairs ." She spoke  casually , as though it was any other day and she was recounting her afternoon over tea.

"You, uh, you seem to be taking this pretty well." Ben glanced over, eyes flashing back to Klaus  periodically . 

"I've lived a long and odd life, I've lost a lot of people, and there are a lot of worse ways I could have gone. I figure, it's my time." She shrugged, watching Klaus  carefully .

"But-" Klaus froze, one hand raised as though to grab Ruth. He sighed, collapsing in on himself. "You, uh, you shouldn't hang around here too long, you'll get stuck like Ben." Ben raised an eyebrow at that but Klaus ignored him. "You should go be with your family, they must be waiting for you."

Ruth slipped off of her seat, as she knelt  gracefully before Klaus Ben noted that the stiffness in her joints had disappeared and she no longer winced as she moved . "Hey Kiddo, look at me?" Klaus raised his head, eyes dry but  indescribably miserable. "There we go. I need you to understand something, and I need you to remember it once I'm gone, okay?"

Klaus nodded  shakily , hands clasped tight together.

"Good boy, okay, I need you to remember that  you are my family too, yeah?  And I need you to remember that even when I'm not here I'm rooting for you, because you are an amazing, strong person and I would not give up the time we had together for anything . This was the happiest I've been since I lost my family, because I found myself another son."

Tears dripped  silently from Klaus' chin as he nodded, arms wrapping around his chest in a crude approximation of a hug . 

"Chin up, Kid. I'll see you on the other side."  Ruth smiled, for a moment free of the bruises which marked her death, before she faded away and left the two of them silent in the bus . 

Neither of them spoke as they got off at their stop, Ben trailing behind Klaus as his brother stared into space, his feet to following a familiar path . 

As they approached the apartment, a small crowd came into view, the blue and red flashing lights of an ambulance casting odd shapes against the walls .  It took Ben a moment to notice the creeping shadows around them, grasping hands and wailing voices which he thought his brother was finally free from . 

Klaus staggered back, hands grasping at his hair as he turned away from the shattered safety of their home and down an alley .  The darkness didn't help, the spirits only becoming more insistent as they filled the cramped space . 

Klaus burst from the other end of the alley, curses spilling from his lips as he fumbled in his pockets for something .  It wasn't until he started counting the money he had on him that his intentions became clear to Ben, causing him to jump towards his brother to somehow try and stop him . 

"Klaus, man, I know this sucks, it really fucking sucks okay? But this isn't how to handle this. You've been doing so well, don't throw it all away. This isn't what Ruth wants-"

"It doesn't fucking matter what she wants anymore, because she's dead, okay? She's gone. Do you see her around here? No! Because she's  fucking dead , Ben!"  Klaus was panting, shoulders heaving as he began to make his way down the street, in the direction of one of his old hangouts . 

"You're the one that sent her away, Klaus. She could have stayed, she could have been here for you." Ben was frantic, keeping pace with Klaus as he tried to outrun the ghosts behind him.

"And what kind of person would I be then? I should've let her hang around a fuck up like me instead of going to see her family for the first time in twenty five years?"  Klaus' head was down, Ben  was convinced that if he didn't need to see where he was going he would have his eyes squeezed shut and his ears blocked . 

"She loved you too, Klaus, she would have stayed for you."

"And what?" Klaus whipped around, red eyes furious as he stared Ben down. "She gets to watch as I screw up again, as I get someone else I care about killed? Who's next? Diego? Allison? Vanya?" 

Ben stepped towards his raging brother, hands raised  disarmingly as things started to click into place . "Klaus, you didn't get her killed. It was an accident. There was nothing you could've done."

"She was only there because I brought her to the apartment. If I'd  just -"

"What? Left her out on the street? You helped her, you gave her a comfortable and safe life with someone she cared about. You didn't do anything wrong, Klaus."  Klaus' face was awash with tears, remnants of old eyeliner causing messy smudges across his cheeks . 

"It doesn't matter, she's still gone." He sniffed, glancing behind Ben with a shattered look, "And they're back. I can't- I can't handle it, I need the numbness back."

"Klaus, there's got to be another way. Go talk to someone at the centre, talk to Diego, hell go talk to Pogo, I don't care,  just don't do this,  please ." Klaus was already turning away from him, grief and fear blocking his common sense. "Klaus, please."

"I'm sorry, Ben."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *Creates throwaway OC, falls in love with her, pushes her down stairs and makes myself sad*   
> Me: *Sobbing* I'm fine.
> 
> Hey, I really shouldn't have based Ruth off my own nan, should I? I feel like I've put something out in the universe that's going to fuck me up later. So the reason this chapter took so long is because I was massively putting off writing those last couple of scenes, and I went through like five different scenarios before settling on this one. 
> 
> But before all the sad we got a bit of sweet brotherly bonding time, so there's that, right?
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed (?) this chapter, I've stopped trying to predict how long this fic is going to be and have just accepted that I'm going to be writing it until I die or whatever.


	4. And what have we done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back with another instalment of "How much can we hurt these poor poor boys?" If you guessed it was me, then you're right, congrats.
> 
> Sorry this one took so long, it's been a hell of a hectic month culminating in both me getting a new job and my rabbit dying on the same day, so as you can imagine things have been kind of up and down for me recently. Also, I was fully convinced that I could get the main bulk of this story done this chapter, and once again I was so wrong, but next chapter should be the last before we catch up to the start of the show, at which point I haven't really decided whether I'll end it or keep taking Ben's point of view through the show (with a lot of editing, I refuse to write out the whole damn show, I'd be here forever.)
> 
> Not sure what you guys think about that, if you have any opinions, feel free to let me know. Enjoy!

Things were bad for a while after Ruth died.  Ben watched his brother disappear into familiar streets, the cash in his pocket traded for enough drugs to keep the hurt away until Klaus felt ready to deal with everything . 

The problem was that Ben wasn't sure Klaus would ever be ready.  He stuck close, weaving through crowded clubs or slinking down back alleys, and it felt  just the same as before except now he didn't have the safety net of Ruth checking that he hadn't died in some unknown corner of the city . 

There had been a moment of clarity, a day or so into this downward spiral, when Klaus had found himself near their old haunt . His hands had been shaking, legs weak, as he wandered through the streets looking for a familiar face. Gentle hands had caught his, a concerned voice asking why he was back there. Sally, Ben thought her name was, one of Ruth's friends.

"One of  your  friends", Ben had tried to shout at him, get through to him past the haze of drugs, "Ask for help, Klaus. They'll  help. " 

Klaus couldn't hear him, hadn't been able to since the first pill passed his lips.  Instead he laid out the facts, clinical in a way that Klaus was never meant to be, asked Sally to tell the others about Ruth . 

And then he walked away.  One of Sally's hands raised as though to stop him, but there were already tears on her face and instead she turned away to find the others . 

That night was awful.  Klaus numbed himself like never before and Ben found himself turning away, leaving his brother what privacy he could allow him . It was almost malicious, the way Klaus pushed his body past its limits, and it ended the only way it could have. 

Klaus was shaking, propped up by two near-strangers he'd met that night.  They seemed like good enough guys but Ben was keeping a close eye on them still, promising himself that if anything happened he'd find a way to protect his brother, somehow . 

They were roommates,  maybe ? Ben wasn't sure.  But they'd  apparently decided that they couldn't leave Klaus to  be trampled on the club floor and were instead dragging him home to sleep the night off on their couch .  Ben trailed behind,  desperately wishing he could be the one supporting his brother right now, rather than some strangers he'd met less than four hours ago . 

A sharp pang of anger shot through him. They should have had the chance to do this, they should have been normal.  If there had been any justice in the world it would have been him and Diego carrying their brother home after a wild night out, or Luther with Klaus slung over his shoulder .  It wouldn't be mind-crushing grief and the weight of ghosts that pushed his brother to indulge, it would have been a bad breakup or something else normal people went through . They would have been together, Klaus wouldn't have to carry this weight with only a ghost at his side. 

Klaus wouldn't be so scared of  being seen as the family fuck-up that he'd refuse to ask for help.  He would have gone to Diego's apartment or called Allison rather than  being dragged down into whatever illegal party or seedy club would have him . 

If there was any justice in the world Ben would never have died, and he'd be able to hug his brother like he so  desperately wanted to . 

\------------------- 

Klaus had woken up early,  practically falling off the couch he'd been sleeping when sunlight hit his face .  Ben had watched as he scrambled around, gathering his things and leaving a  hastily scribbled note before he fled . 

It seemed like he still couldn't see Ben as they reached the street.  Klaus had popped another pill as he left the apartment, stuffing the  heavily depleted bag back in his pocket with a hum . 

For a moment Ben thought Klaus might have been heading back to the apartment, back to where he would be safe and warm and away from any dealers .  Where there was a note from Ruth, pinned to a small cork-board, reminding Klaus when his meetings were and that she was proud of him . Where there was a chance someone who cared about him might come looking. 

But he swerved, hands buried deep in his pockets as he wandered  aimlessly , eyes glazed and limbs weak.  He settled in a small park for a while, a flash of green between grey streets, and Ben could almost breath easy as he watched his brother lay back, eyes shielded from the bright sun, and rest .

This cycle continued, Klaus getting as fucked up as he could manage at night, crashing on someone's couch and then fleeing before they woke up and spending the day wandering the city . 

Of course, things weren't always that easy.  Many times Klaus managed to piss someone off enough that they would take a swing at him, his reflexes slowed enough that he would take the hit and then scramble away and hide in the crowd or escape to the streets .  Or he would find someone who caught his fancy, usually tall, muscular and handsome, and Ben would avert his eyes for the night, only staying close enough that he wouldn't lose Klaus in the crowd . 

At least those nights Ben knew that Klaus still thought about him, because as soon as morning came around he would flee, a mumbled "Sorry Ben" slipping from his lips, like a chastised teenager . 

Ben hated that time,  however long it stretched on for, prolonged by Klaus pick-pocketing people to fund himself . He hated the loneliness of having no one to talk to, no one even acknowledging his existence. It may have been selfish, but he  desperately hoped for the day Klaus would get sober enough to speak to him again. 

He almost understood how the other ghosts felt. It made him want to scream too. 

That was why, when he finally saw a familiar face in a crowd, he couldn't help the little laugh of joy that slipped free. 

Vanya looked- Better? Happier? Ben wasn't sure what was different but he'd definitely never seen her smile as much as she was right now. She was with a small gaggle of girls, college students, he'd guess, near the bar.  Klaus had, for once, decided to go drinking in one of the nicer clubs downtown,  probably aiming to steal some wallets, but Ben wasn't going to complain because  Vanya was here .

He tried to nudge Klaus in her direction, they were so close together that if he  just turned he was sure to catch sight of her . And he was in a good mood tonight, dancing and laughing with his new friends for the evening. 

In the end, it wasn't Klaus who saw Vanya, but Vanya who saw Klaus. Ben caught the look of surprise on her face, morphing  quickly into an odd mix of relief and concern.  She excused herself, almost swallowed up by the crowd as she crossed to where Klaus was leaning up against the wall, chatting with some random guy . 

"Um, hi." Her voice was  barely audible above the pulsing noise of the crowd.  Something must have caught Klaus' attention though, because he turned away for a moment, catching sight of Vanya as she shuffled her feet beside him . 

His eyes widened and he stepped closer to her, the man he had been talking with all but forgotten as he took in the sight of their sister before him . "Vanya?" 

"Uh, yeah. Hey Klaus." She waved  nervously and Ben couldn't help but chuckle, some things never changed.

"Oh gosh, look at you." Klaus grinned, hands gripping her shoulders to hold her at arms length, examining her. "You're all grown up, baby sis."

"We're uh, we're the same age Klaus. Like, exactly."  Vanya shrugged as she shifted  anxiously , but there was a small smile lifting her lips as she looked up at their brother .

" Maybe you're right, but also consider that I am an old, withered man and you are a fresh faced little ball of potential." He frowned before tapping at her head, confusion obvious in his expression. "Were you always this short?"

Vanya huffed, "Yes, you  just started growing at thirteen and never stopped." 

"Oh, well that explains why none of my shirts fit." He grinned, tugging at the crop top Ben knew he'd only had a couple of months and had bought that way. 

Vanya seemed about to speak again, but  was interrupted by a loud blast of music. She winced, glancing around  anxiously . "Hey, do you, uh, want to go? We can catch up some more at my place?"

"Well..." Klaus glanced over his shoulder, but the guy he'd been talking to had wandered off. "I suppose there's no reason to stay. Sure, why not?"

He linked his arm through hers, grinning down at her as he dragged her through the crowd with the kind of confidence which only came from experience .  By the time they spilled out onto the street he had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, their sides pressed close as he giggled in the cool air . 

"Alright, which way?"

\-------------------

The silence between the pair would have been uncomfortable had it not been for Klaus'  apparent inability to feel that particular feeling .  Instead he followed along beside their sister, arms swinging  happily as they wound through the streets . 

The apartment Vanya led them to reminded Ben of Klaus' own neglected home and for a moment he expected Klaus to turn around and leave immediately . But the longer they stood there, the more the differences stood out. 

It was larger for one, the combined living room/kitchen almost double that of Klaus' with at least twice as much light .  The huge window Ben had taken up a place beside allowed a wash of orange light in from the streetlight outside and he had to imagine that during the day the room would be something of a suntrap . 

Vanya's furniture was  obviously second-hand, but was managing to hold together better than what Klaus and Ben had become used to . Klaus flopped down on the couch with a grunt, grinning up at Vanya as she watched him get comfortable. 

"Coffee?" She squeaked, turning towards the kitchen with a small smile. Ben watched her go, taking in everything he could about his sister.  One thing he'd learned after spending so much time around Klaus, was that you never knew how long it would be before you saw someone again . 

So he watched Vanya, the way she moved (Too timid, too quiet, like she was afraid someone would notice her. Had she always been like that?)  and the way she would  occasionally glance back over at Klaus, a small smile on her lips as though she couldn't quite believe he was there . 

"Not for me, thanks V. But if you've got anything stronger, I wouldn't say no?"  Klaus had turned to look at her, eyes wide in a look he thought made it impossible to say no to him and which Ben had been immune to for years now . 

Vanya huffed a laugh, pouring herself a cup of coffee before turning to rifle through a cupboard, " I think I have something . I couldn't tell you if it was any good, though, I'm not much of a drinker." She returned to Klaus with a glass of something dark and a mug of coffee for herself. 

Klaus took the glass with a nod of thanks, cradling it between his palms as though it could somehow keep him warm. "There's no such thing as good alcohol, dear sister. Some of it's  just more expensive than the rest." He took a sip, pulling a face as he glared down at the liquid. "But this is pretty fucking bad. Who gave this to you?  I think they might have been trying to take you out, and not in the fun, respectable way I'm sure you're used to." 

"It was , uh, someone from school, a birthday present."  She swirled her coffee, staring down into the whirling liquid as though it was the most interesting thing in the world . 

"Vanya! Is this a boyfriend we're talking about?"  Klaus was grinning, the kind of manic, overblown grin that usually meant trouble for whatever poor soul it  was aimed at . 

Vanya sighed, finally looking up to meet her brother's eyes, "No, I mean, not  really ? Nothing happened?"

Klaus leaned across the couch, slinging a commiserating arm around her shoulders and jostling her  gently . "Well, I hate to say it but if this was his idea of a present then he's definitely not good enough for you. You'll be okay, V."

It was... weird, watching Klaus being a brother again. It almost reminded Ben of all the times Klaus would sneak into his room when he knew Ben had had a rough day. He would do the same thing then, pull him close and hold on until Ben felt a little less like he was about to fall to pieces. 

Klaus had been  strangely stable as a kid, reliable, before everything started going to shit . 

He watched them talk for a while, hours slipping by as Klaus dug into what he'd missed, his curiosity piqued by that small sliver of information .  He dodged around questions about himself,  mostly by pointing out that nothing interesting happened in his life, a point that Ben would definitely disagree with . 

Still, as curious as Klaus may be, he was still coming down from a multiple-day bender.  Eventually his words began to slur together, his head drooping, and after a few more moments he was asleep, propped up on Vanya's shoulder . 

The girl peered down at him with a fond smile before  carefully manoeuvring herself out from under him and laying him down .  She left the room, returning a moment later with a  brightly coloured fluffy blanket that she draped over their sleeping brother . With one last soft look she headed towards what Ben assumed was her bedroom, flicking off the lights as she left. 

Ben watched Klaus sleep for a couple of moments, something within himself loosening at the sight of his relaxed face, before he turned away to watch out of the window .  Perhaps something interesting would happen to keep away the mind-numbing boredom. 

\-------------------

Something interesting did happen, but it wasn't until the next morning.  Ben was still staring out the window, the muted sounds of someone moving around in another room suggesting that Vanya was awake, when a familiar figure stormed his way down the street and let himself into Vanya's apartment building . 

"Oh, well this should be good."  He glanced over at Klaus, who at some point in the night had managed to wrap himself completely around the blanket, clutching it to himself like a teddy bear . He didn't seem close to waking up, but Ben was  absolutely sure that was about to change. 

He was also sure that the only thing which kept Diego from  literally kicking the door open was that it was Vanya's apartment and he didn't want to upset her . 

Instead, he managed to restrain himself and open the door like a normal human would. Ben filed away the knowledge that Diego had a key to Vanya's apartment as he sat back to watch how this would play out. If Klaus had wanted him to keep playing lookout for him he shouldn't have blocked him out. 

Diego had paused in the doorway, sharp eyes peering around the room (and passing right over Ben, a feeling he still wasn't quite used to) before glancing down at Klaus, still sound asleep on the couch . 

"Christ, man. What the fuck, Klaus?"  And Ben knew that Klaus looked bad, that he looked even worse in the light of day without the forgiveness of flashing lights and crowds that clubs usually gave him, he  really did .  But when he stepped back, looked at him through the eyes of someone who hadn't been beside him every day for the last few months, he could admit that Klaus looked like he would  barely be able to stand . 

Any weight he'd managed to put on when Ruth had been around had fallen off him  quickly , a lack of anything resembling real food had taken care of that, as well as a fair few more pounds on top of it .  His face was sallow and sunken, pale from a lack of sunlight in a way that only made the dark bags under his eyes more obvious . 

And the track marks were undeniable in this light, Klaus' short sleeves doing nothing to hide them from curious eyes .  And the worst part was that he'd never tried, Klaus  truly didn't care who saw them, or any of the evidence of where his life had taken him .

Diego stared down at him, face hard and unyielding in a way that seemed out of place on the boy Ben used to know. It was a look he had seen before. He'd caught the tail end of it after he himself had died, and he'd seen it again after Klaus' overdose. Diego  was scared .

"Klaus, wake up!" Diego snapped.

He was  probably a little pissed too. 

Klaus jumped at the sudden noise, flailing his way off the couch until he was a pile of limbs on the floor. "Huh, what?"

"Where the fuck have you been?" Diego glared down at him, any trace of concern replaced by irritation. "No one's seen you in over a month."

Klaus was still staring at Diego, eyes unfocused as he tried to understand what he was saying. "What, Diego?"

"Are you still fucking high? It's nine am, man, come on." 

Klaus groaned, hauling himself back up onto the couch and wrapping himself in the blanket. "I'm fine, I've got everything under control."

"Under control? Vanya found you high as a kite in the middle of some club.  You haven't been back to your apartment since Ruth died, and I know that for sure because we're the ones that have been making sure you still have an apartment to go back to ." Diego sighed, slouching into a chair. "What happened, man? You were sober, you were doing well."

"Well now I'm not." If anyone else had been in this situation it  probably would have  been thrown back in Diego's face. Instead, Klaus  just sounded tired. "I've realised that... I don't know,  maybe it's fate or some shit, no matter what I do I'm going to end up right back where I started." 

Diego's brow furrowed, "That's bullshit. You  just need to be strong enough to not fall into this shit again. I know you can be, so why are you giving up so  easily ?"

"Why bother?  What's waiting for me on the other side except a bunch of dead people who'd rather scream in my face than let me got on with my life ?"

"A chance to have actual friends? Or to spend time with your family? Or  maybe a chance to not end up either dead in a ditch somewhere or in prison? Hey, look at me." It wasn't a request, Klaus looked up. "None of us want that, we want you to be okay. You're spiralling, man, you need help." 

Someone cleared their throat. 

For a moment Ben felt bad for completely forgetting Vanya was there, especially since they were in her apartment, but he pushed that away as he watched her make her way across the room and settle beside Klaus .  She wrapped her arms around her middle, as though she could disappear inside herself if she tried hard enough . 

"I um, we  just want to know that you're safe, Klaus. When I saw you last night I was so relieved, but you have to know that this isn't sustainable. You're killing yourself." She sat back, leaning away from Klaus as though she thought he would take a swing at her. 

He didn't move, instead he stared straight ahead, gripping the blanket  tightly around himself . "This is all a little heavy for it being so early, huh? I always thought if I got an intervention there'd be more banners and, I don't know, a cake? Do they make cakes for interventions?"

"Klaus." Diego grumbled, disapproving.

"What? You can't take away all my defence mechanisms at once, what will I have left?" And that sounded like it should have been a joke, but it came out  horribly raw. Cracked around the edges like Klaus'  gradually slipping mask. 

"Are you saying that you'll try?" Vanya sounded so hopeful, Ben had no idea how Klaus could say no to her. 

Thankfully he didn't have to because Klaus nodded,  silently agreeing to go through one of the hardest things he'd ever done, again .

"Oh, thank god." Vanya patted Klaus on the arm before slipping away to the kitchen. "Celebratory coffee? Klaus, I can make hot chocolate if you'd like?" 

"That would- that would be nice, thanks V." Klaus was quiet, and in Ben's experience that was never a good thing. 

"Hey." Klaus looked up, Diego was watching him  carefully . "It's going to be okay. You've done this once, you can do it again, right?"

"Yeah, right. No problem."

"Hey, Diego, do you mind helping me with this?"  Vanya was trying to carry three mugs at once in one hand whilst balancing a plate on the other, casting a hopeful look towards their brother . 

"Yeah, no problem." Once Diego had vacated the immediate area Ben drifted closer. It had been a while since Klaus' last hit so he figured he'd at least try. 

When he was within Klaus' line of sight the other man glanced up, finally meeting Ben's eye after months of nothing .  But already their siblings were making their way over, hot drinks and snacks at the ready, so instead of giving his brother the talking to he deserved he  just glared for a moment . "Don't think you're getting out of this without us having a talk. I'm pissed at you."

"I'm sorry." Klaus mumbled, low so the others couldn't hear him. 

Ben felt the frown melt from his face, replaced by something softer. "I know.  Just don't do it again."

\-------------------

Diego managed to get Klaus back into the same rehab centre he'd visited before, Ben figured he used some of his new police contacts, and Klaus slid right back in like he had never left .  There were a surprising number of familiar faces amongst the other residents, something that Klaus questioned Steph about as soon as he had a chance . 

"Oh, well relapses are rather common, especially if the initial causes of the drug abuse haven't been addressed fully. It's one of the reason we like to keep people coming to group after they leave the centre, it helps people work through those issues." She had smiled softly and left Klaus with that new information and an offer to talk if he ever needed it. 

When Klaus left the centre this time it was to Diego waiting in his old beat up car, their brother gracing Klaus with a rare grin when he flashed his thirty day coin . 

"Proud of you, Bro."

"Well, don't get too excited, we've been here before."

" Maybe , but I've got a good feeling about this time."

So Klaus went back to work, and even with the prolonged absence people were more than willing to pay for his time. He moved back into the apartment, although  occasionally he would still sleep on the couch.  He said it felt weird to stay in Ruth's room, even after he repainted and got new furniture, the entire room now a bright mess of colours . 

On those nights, when the ghosts got too loud, too violent, Ben would beg Klaus to call the others, to ask for help. 

He usually did. 

But it wasn't one of those nights that got to him this time, the thing that caused him to slip once again. 

He was working, a simple enough job to contact some man's recently passed mother.  Apparently she had died  suddenly whilst he was away and he hadn't been able to say goodbye.  Ben had watched Klaus' eyes wrinkle in sympathy when he heard the story, offering to do the job for a reduced rate, something the young man was more than happy to take him up on . 

But when he arrived at the house he got more than he bargained for. Ben had to duck around the ghosts that crowded the hallways, Klaus offered no such luxury.  He passed through freezing cold bodies as he  was led to the mother's room, and whilst her ghost was  certainly present, it was difficult to distinguish her from the others .

Klaus forced his way through the job, and if he was a little snippier than usual no one mentioned anything.  It wasn't until later, when they were back at the apartment, that either of them noticed the hanger on that had followed them . 

It wasn't unusual for ghosts to latch on to Klaus, especially if Klaus had been in a particularly down mood that day they seemed especially drawn to him . But this seemed different, malicious.

The figure that had followed them was unlike anything Ben had seen before, hunched and twisted, unnatural to a point that it set his stomach rolling .  He knew the moment Klaus saw it because he froze, squeezed his eyes shut tight as though that would make it go away, hands crushed into fists at his sides .  The ghosts shifted closer, flickering  slightly as wet, dragging breaths  were pulled from its already dead body . 

"Nope, fuck off!" Klaus shouted, Ben could swear that he could smell rotting flesh, wet earth. 

" Klaus ." The voice was heavy, oppressive. It almost hurt to hear it.  "Klaus. " 

"Klaus, don't listen to it."

"Klaus. " 

"It can't hurt you, you're okay." 

"You don't- you don't know that." Klaus was shaking, hands clenched hard around his ears. 

" Klaus ."

" Fuck off! " Klaus screamed, his eyes shooting open in time to watch the figure blink out of existence. "What?"

"It's gone? What was that thing?" Ben blinked, shaking his head to try and clear out the echoes. 

"It was a ghost."

"I've never seen a ghost like that before." He glanced over at his brother, watching a he sank into a chair, hands coming up to cradle his head. "You have?"

"Only in one place. It was before you died." Klaus sighed, sitting back so he could meet Ben's eyes. "The mausoleum."

"The mausoleum? Where Dad locked you up?" Ben shuddered, one of those things was too much for him, he couldn't imagine  being surrounded by them. "Why are they like that?"

"No idea, but that one that was here? It's not gone far, I can still feel it." Klaus shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. "It's like standing next to an open freezer."

"So what do we do?" 

"I have no idea."

\-------------------

The ghost kept turning up and Ben could see how much it was wearing on Klaus. He would settle down for the night and then it would appear beside him, or at the end of his bed, or down the hallway. That wet, rattling breathing would start up and Klaus would freeze. 

They spent a lot more time at either Vanya's or Diego's, although both of them had  fairly busy lives, Vanya with violin practice and college, Diego with the academy .  Klaus didn't like to bother them too often so instead they would find themselves wandering the streets, hoping that if they kept on the move they'd be able to keep the ghost away . 

Klaus lost his appetite, he missed meetings, and  eventually , with Ben screaming at him not to, he headed back to one of his dealers and left with a baggie of pills . 

"It's only once, I  just , I need to sleep Ben. I can't keep this up."

"It's not  just going to be once and you know it. Don't do this Klaus!"  It was selfish but Ben couldn't be alone again, he couldn't watch his brother's life from the outside with no way of interacting .  And in the back of his mind he  constantly questioned whether the ghost would still be there, haunting Klaus right alongside him .

What would that do to him, no one to interact with except that thing? 

Apparently none of his arguments were enough, because Klaus had already popped a pill before they reached the apartment . 

For a while, Klaus kind of kept his word. He rationed himself, once a week he would pop a pill, he would sleep through the night. He'd work during the week and then save the weekends for the high and the inevitable come down. 

But he slipped, of course he slipped. At one point Ben had had complete faith in his brother, that he could do anything, but this, the drugs, it was his weak point. He had no defence against it and a list of reasons he should take them. 

So Klaus crumbled once again, slipping away into the night with a pocket of pills and a large  portion of his savings . 

And unlike every other time, he slipped into a crowd and found himself caught up by someone, strong arms wrapped around him in a way that seemed far too predatory to Ben, but Klaus was too out of it to notice anything unusual . 

When they left together that night Ben had to suppress a shudder, the urge to scream. Something felt very wrong here.

At least the ghost could only scare Klaus, living people were so much more dangerous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have a lot of theories about ghosts and even more about how the ghosts interact with Klaus' powers. Specifically the one that comes into play the most in this story is the idea that ghosts can get kind of corrupted if they're around negative emotions too much. And since the ghosts in the mausoleum are only around other ghosts it created a kind of negative energy feedback loop, with them all eventually ending up how we saw them in the show. I guess I'm just trying to explain away why there are such huge differences between ghosts in the show, but whatever. 
> 
> Next chapter might be a little rough, but I promise there'll be nothing explicit. Of course there will probably be soul crushing angst, because honestly who do you think is writing this?
> 
> Let me know what you think, I'm not too sure about this chapter so any comments are very welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> So I feel like I have to apologise, because every time I try to write something it turns into pure sadness on paper (screen?) and I feel like I should try and write something more happy~~~ I don't know, if anyone has requests (Depressing or cheerful, whatever) just drop them in a comment and I might get round to it.
> 
> Second part should be up in a few days, catch you then.


End file.
